During this hectic day of non-stop media calls from around the world,
all the while holding a three-hour demonstration in Albuquerque, we've
learned some new things about what has happened during the past couple
of days.

We've learned from a Taos, New Mexico newspaper reporter that there were
at least three military projects on-board the Columbia shuttle mission.
He told me that NASA very, very reluctantly gave him the information
after he made a complete pest out of himself. This matches what we've
been saying for years --that virtually all NASA missions are now "dual
use", the Pentagon is riding the NASA horse, pretending that the space
missions are all about science and space exploration.

The information about the use of nuclear power on-board Columbia has
been harder to come by. NASA is not giving out much information on
this. We do have this below that we found from the Associated Press
this morning:

Investigators Track Down Shuttle Debris

By PAULINE ARRILLAGA
AP National Writer

Though local officials had too few bodies to protect every piece
discovered, they said NASA had provided a list of priorities: anything
that could contain data or resembles computer circuitry, or potentially
radioactive materials.

One woman who lives in Austin, Texas called me today and reported that
she was driving through the debris field at the time of the accident and
wonders what she has been exposed to. She reports that the local
authorities in the area are still saying at local news conferences that
radioactive contamination did occur. She reported that one woman, who
owns a large ranch in the affected area, had been told to leave the
ranch by NASA after lots of debris was found there.

We also know that the shuttle is maintained by a 6,400 person work force
at Cape Canaveral and that many of them have been warning NASA and the
federal authorities for some time that maintenance funding was being
cut. The United Space Alliance, a consortium that includes Lockheed
Martin and Boeing, have a private contract with NASA to run the entire
shuttle operation and the contract allows them to keep any "profits"
that they can by reducing costs. So the word is that they have reduced
costs by cutting maintenance corners.

At our demonstration in Albuquerque, protesting the 20th Annual
Symposium on Space Nuclear Power & Propulsion, we've learned more about
the connection between "civilian" space nuclear power and Pentagon plans
for use of nuclear power for weapons in space. Thanks largely to Dr.
Bob Anderson, professor at the University of New Mexico (UNM), and
longtime Global Network (GN) member, he has exploded the long maintained
myth that NASA's space nukes aren't for the military. UNM professor and
Institute for Nuclear Space Power Studies founder Mohamed El-Genk is
hosting the space symposium. In an article in the UNM Daily Lobo,
student newspaper, last Friday El-Genk for the first time ever
acknowledged the relationship between their research and plans for space
weapons. "There is a trick I don't know if you're aware of," said
El-Genk in regard to a contract he had had with the Air Force. "The Air
Force might come and say, 'We're interested in this technology,' but of
course development technologies can't come from their budget. So the
Department of Energy (DoE) or another agency will say 'Ok, the nuclear
part, we'll develop it .....' They want some other agency to develop
the technology then they can go and use it." "The Air Force never came
out and said, 'We need this technology and we'll pay for it."

"I think the ethical part really falls on those who use the technology
for something in particular," El-Genk said.

Thanks to Bob Anderson's work to secure copies of contracts showing that
El-Genk was developing nuclear technologies for space weapons systems
Mr. El-Genk was finally exposed as a liar who has no ethical concern
about what his "technology" will be used for.

Today many high school kids who are being indoctrinated inside the
symposium, being told that there is no alternative to using nuclear
power in space, came out to visit our protest. Their teacher wanted us
to tell them about the solar alternatives that the European Space Agency
has developed for deep space missions. Their eyes were wide open.

It was also particularly rewarding to get e-mails today from our GN
members in France, Japan, and Germany who translated our recent news
releases and sent them out to their national media. Others in England
did the same thing. It's exciting to see our network moving together
like this. It shows that we do have a power that we often underestimate
-- the power of unified action.

Thanks to all. Tomarrow we continue with our protests at the space
symposium. Will keep you posted as things develop.